David Weeden had a passion for history according to his wife, and had a special place in his heart for Titanic. He and his wife owned a Mini Mall in Vienna, New York where vendors sold collectibles and antiques. He liked to add things for people to see when they entered and struck gold in 2004. He purchased a six foot AC Erector Set Model of Titanic. And he proudly displayed it at the entrance to the Mini Mall for six years. It was put together in the 1930’s and has figurines on it showing them walking, strolling, exercising, or possibly doing some ship work.
His wife said that he loved to display it and gave kids books about Titanic. He had plans for the model since it lights up at the bottom. “He wanted to put little scenes in there, different compartments, different stories behind it. But, of course, he took sick and wasn’t able to complete his plans that he had for it,” said Doreen Weeden. David Weeden passed away in August at age 71 of cancer. Despite his attachment to it, the family is auctioning it off on eBay. At last check, the current bid is $265 and bidding continues till 7 Dec. You can see the bidding page here.
It really is a neat looking model and is 72 inches long, 10 inches wide, 25 inches tall and weighs 50 pounds. Perhaps a Titanic collector or one of the Titanic themed museums out there might want to consider this an addition to their display.
Here are some news stories that close out November.
1. Woman Shares Family’s Titanic Tale With Tenth Street Students(30 Nov 2013,Times Leader) Students in fourth grade at the Tenth Street Elementary School were treated to a guest speaker recently. The students learned about the events of the sinking of the Titanic from Mae Thomas.Thomas, a child of a Titanic survivor, shared her mother and infant brother’s survival story aboard the Titanic, along with many other stories.
2. Belfast’s Odyssey Gets Go-Ahead For Extension That Could Create 1,000 Jobs(29 Nov 2013,Belfast Telegraph) Odyssey Trust’s plans to build next to the existing Odyssey Arena and Pavilion come just weeks after Belfast Harbour won planning permission for an office development at City Quays. With an application lodged by Titanic Quarter Ltd for yet another development, the entire Belfast Harbour area is set for a major growth spurt. The scheme has space for nearly 800 apartments, two hotels, shops, cafes, bars and restaurants and “community and cultural use” space, according to planners Turley Associates, which acts for Odyssey Trust.
Photo Wikipedia
3. Tracing a Precious Relic of the Titanic(28 Nov 2013,New York Times) A hundred years later, the solid gold Waltham pocket watch, purchased in 1907 and engraved with the initials J.J.A., has become an object of controversy. John Miottel, a collector in California, says he bought it 15 years ago. But in March an heir of the Astor family announced that he owned a watch carried by John Jacob Astor IV at the time of his death, according to reports published in The New York Post, The Daily Mail of London and elsewhere. Mr. Miottel, a real estate investor in Northern California who collects luxury ocean-liner memorabilia, said in a phone interview that he bought the Astor watch “in 1997 in a small auction house in Asheville, North Carolina, around the 85th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking when all the Titanic fans were celebrating aboard the Queen Mary in California.” “The ironic thing is that almost nobody, including the Astor Foundation, knew about this watch at the time,” added Mr. Miottel, who owns two other Titanic-related watches. “There would have been a lot more bidders if they had.”
Well Thanksgiving is nearly here for those of us in USA. Before I take time away to eat some turkey, watch some games, and catch a few movies, here are some Titanic odds and ends for the week.
1. The Sun-Sentinel (Florida) reminds readers that while Titanic may be at the South Florida Science Museum there are many other undersea treasures off Florida. Treasure hunter Terry Armstrong tells the Sentinel “There are probably 30 to 40 old Spanish ships, from the 1500s up to the late 1600s, that are sunk around Florida.” And many of them likely have lots of money to be found (gold, silver, and other precious cargo). Some ships are likely just historic rather than a treasure find though. Alas the days of finding and keeping such treasure thanks to federal and state regulations. And even if you find the treasure, it would belong to the state (although you might get compensation for it). Provided of course you had a permit to do the recovery.
Source: Titanic Amount Of Treasure Still Undiscovered Off South Florida (24 Nov 2013,Sun-Sentinel)
2. The movie Raise The Titanic(1980) is scheduled to come out on Blu-Ray in January 2014. The movie was adapted from the Clive Cussler best seller of the same name. Sadly it was a terrible adaptation changing key aspects of the story from the novel. Perhaps the best part is seeing Titanic raised from the ocean floor (when the book and movie were made the wreck had not been discovered yet). Aside from that, it is mostly a dud. If you want to see it, check your local library to see if it is available. It also might be available from an online streaming movie site (not Netflix, last I checked). I encourage you to read the book as it is quite exciting.
Source: Raise The Titanic’ To Surface On Blu-Ray(26 Nov 2013, High-Def Digest)
3. Iraq has suffered floods of late that have made it difficult for its citizens to get about. Due to the lack of rapid government assistance, many were forced into using makeshift rafts to get about on city streets. This caused many to post humorous pictures on social media sites that had, for instance, Jack and Rose from Titanic superimposed on top of a city bus trying the make its way through a flooded street. As one commentator noted, they know how the people of Venice get about.
Source: Fighting Floods, Iraqis Go Online To Bemoan Poor Public Services(24 Nov 2013,Oman Tribune)
Warning! Titanic Cliche Ahead
4. Karl Samuda recently spoke in opposition to various tax measures being debated in Jamaica’s House of Representatives. Some of the benefits being debated include a reduction in corporate taxes. Samuda, noting the bills being passed said “Let us hold hands and sing and go down with the Titanic.” Yet another example of a politician using Titanic for political reasons.
Source: Sinking like the Titanic!(24 Nov 2013,The Gleaner)
A few tips on Thanksgiving (for turkey fryers)
*Do not even think about deep frying your turkey in your home or apartment balcony.
*Set up fryer outdoors and not close to any building. Make sure it is on a level surface.
*Oil is hot! Never forget that when cooking. Wear suitable clothing to protect when cooking in a deep fryer. Use safety gloves and avoid flip flops or shorts in case the oil splatters.
*Never let kids play around the turkey fryer. Attend at all times.
*Remember the expansion rule: do not overfill with oil. Allow for 6 inches of expansion when you add the turkey.
*Remember to pat dry the bird. Oil and water do not mix.
*And never, ever think about putting a frozen turkey into hot oil. Ever. See what happens here and view a State Farm video on turkey fryer danger.
*Safety experts recommend you turn off the burner when you put the turkey in and then turn it back on to cook.
*Hot oil will stay hot for several hours. Make sure it is in safe place and the burner is off when done. Safely discard the oil later after it has cooled but do not pour it down the drain. Check about where to properly dispose large amounts of cooking oil (some places will buy it and covert it to fuel).
*And watch that oil temperature. Do not let it go above 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If a fire should occur in the pot, turn off cooker and cover the pot. Many grease fires can be put out this way. Always have a fire extinguisher rated for grease fires handy.
The Lancashire Telegraph is reporting that a plaque in honor of Titanic bandmaster Wallace Hartley will be unveiled next year in Colne. Hartley was born and raised in Colne. While there is a plaque near his former home, this one will be installed outside the Spa Theatre. The East Yorkshire Council has agreed to fund the new plaque. The unveiling is tentatively scheduled for 14 April 2014 and it is hoped Hartley relatives will attend.
Many years ago I was in an office building in which a crazed man gunned down people several floors above. It was a terrible event and local media (and later national as well) all reported on it. Many months later an employee of the firm circulated a memo that, in part, made fun of the event. I was one of the few who challenged him about doing it, others simply ignored it or threw the memo into the trash bins. He got indignant, as I recall, when challenged about using the event as a joke (and using office resources to do it). At any rate, it forced management to put an end to sending out personal interoffice correspondence without approval. That was in the days before the Internet, email, tweets, and other social media that now permeate our world.
The events of 9/11 were seared into many who saw what happened that day. To this day the national media hides some of the more graphic sides, namely of people throwing themselves out of buildings since the choices was either burning/choking to death or a quick end by leaping out of the building. Then Mayor Rudy Giuliani recalls hearing this thudding sound outside of the building he was in. It was the sound of bodies hitting the ground. Now you can find this information, some are included in documentaries or in still photographs from that day. But generally media avoids showing this because of how awful it was. Few jest about what happened and jokes about 9/11 are generally avoided. And comics who go that route take a serious risk of alienating their audience and ending gigs lined up.
Titanic, because it has become iconic, has its own special place in history and culture. 1500 people died because the British Board of Trade never bothered to update regulations on lifeboats and because of complacency. Captain Smith never considered icebergs a problem and despite ice warnings, moved Titanic through an ice field at night when visibility was limited due to lack of moonlight and binoculars for the lookouts. So many what ifs can be pointed out that could have changed the outcome that night. Whole families were lost and families separated forever. What ought to have been a glorious day of celebration when Titanic arrived in New York was one of great sadness when the survivors came ashore. And the only thing left of Titanic were the lifeboats.
That happened in 1912, 101 years ago. Last year saw a major remembrance of the sinking and how still Titanic is part of our culture. Despite that you see things like tacky Titanic shaped ice cube molds. Or Titanic slides that kids slide down not understanding its implication. Then there are t-shirts out there that say “Titanic Swim Team.” And finally what drew the ire of many was Red Bull’s advert that made light of the tragedy. Red Bull says it was just in fun and certainly that was their intent. They got away with it because the uproar was light. They got what they wanted, publicity for an energy drink but it comes at price. The price being it turns off a lot of people who may never buy Red Bull again. It is one thing to do a show like MASH and poke fun at war but show its serious side but another to mock. Hogan’s Heroes was a show meant to get laughs out of showing the prisoners running a major underground operation right under the watchful eyes of Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schultz. Most people do not realize that it was purposeful to depict the Germans as idiots. And Werner Klemperer, whose father was forced to leave Germany when Hitler came to power, demanded that of the producers.
Some argue that over time we can be desensitized to past events we have no connection to.There is a point to this and sometimes it is ignorance or lack of empathy. When either occurs, it becomes all too easy to simply look at past tragedies and not care much. And that makes it possible for people to make light of tragedies and come up with dumb products or t-shirts. It means that those who do care have to work harder to remind people not to forget the human cost of the events they trivialize.
Joseph Bell (1861-1912), chief engineer of Titanic, perished when the ship sank in 1912. His crew is credited with keeping the power on for as long as possible during the last hours of its life. The family headstone in the churchyard at Farlam, near Brampton and Cumbria notes his death and heroism. However the years have taken their toll on the headstone, which has suffered damage needing repair. John Lightfoot, who heads up Solar Solve Marine but is semi-retired, is behind the effort to repair the gravestone and put up an information sign so that people know who Joseph Bell was and why he is a Titanic hero.
Sheet music carried by Wallace Hartley is on display at SS Nomadic in Belfast. David Scott-Beddard of White Star Memories Ltd tells Belfast Telegraph “Out of the musicians, his was the only body recovered and more than 30,000 people attended his funeral in Lancashire.” The exhibition includes a photo of Hartley from his school days and “a rare first-class accommodation plan, showing the dining room table layout, Turkish baths and gymnasium, and a stateroom bed, bed linen and dining room clock from Titanic’s sister ship, RMS Olympic.”
South Florida Science Center & Aquarium Photo: WIkipedia
Titanic:The Artifact Exhibition will open at the South Florida Science Center & Aquarium in West Palm Beach on 16 Nov. The exhibit will run till 20 April 2014. For hours and ticket prices go to sfsciencecenter.org. As always plan ahead as tickets often sell out fast at these exhibitions.
David Weeden had a passion for history according to his wife, and had a special place in his heart for Titanic. He and his wife owned a Mini Mall in Vienna, New York where vendors sold collectibles and antiques. He liked to add things for people to see when they entered and struck gold in 2004. He purchased a six foot AC Erector Set Model of Titanic. And he proudly displayed it at the entrance to the Mini Mall for six years. It was put together in the 1930’s and has figurines on it showing them walking, strolling, exercising, or possibly doing some ship work.
